


Better than demon hunting

by gilleboll



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Day At The Beach, Fluff and Crack, Multi, No Plot/Plotless
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-23 09:33:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20006113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gilleboll/pseuds/gilleboll
Summary: To Izzy’s surprise — and delight — it looked like Alec was actually considering the suggestion.”We could bring Magnus! And Simon! I’m sure they’d both want to come,” she added, determined to coax her brother into letting them all take the afternoon off for a trip to the beach. Alec chewed lightly on his lip. He didn’t look fully convinced.





	Better than demon hunting

New York in the summer was  _ scorching,  _ and there wasn’t a Shadowhunter in the city who wasn’t a sweaty, miserable mess in their black leather get-ups. The Institute was a very old building, so of course there wasn’t much in the way of climate control. The dining hall was no exception.

Isabelle Lightwood felt doubly miserable in the heat thanks to her long and thick dark hair. Even putting her hair up wasn’t much help. Actually, Izzy was triply miserable; Simon had been blowing up her phone with pictures and videos of him cooling down in different ways for the past three hours. This time, he was running through sprinklers. She replied with a picture of her own; a selfie where her expression was completely deadpan and scarily similar to her brother’s. Perfect. She smiled to herself as she sent the picture. At least teasing her boyfriend kept her spirits up, despite otherwise wanting to melt away much like the ice cubes in her water. She heard the clomping of heeled boots approaching her from behind, and before she could turn around to see who it was, Clary sank down in the chair next to Isabelle with a loud groan. Clary crossed her arms on the table and lowered her red-haired head to hide her face in the crook of an arm.

”You okay?” Izzy asked with a glance at her friend.

”It’s too hot,” Clary whined. ”I can’t do this. I can’t cope.”

”Me neither,” Izzy agreed. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and Clary moved to fish her phone out of her pocket at the same time as Isabelle did.

”Simon?” she asked. Clary nodded.

”He’s been spamming me all day.”

”I think I might kill him,” Isabelle said conversationally.

”Kill who?” Jace asked, having appeared out of seemingly nowhere before taking his seat across from Clary.

”Simon,” the girls answered in unison. 

The three of them had barely discussed ways of disposing of their vampire friend for more than thirty seconds before the mess that was Isabelle’s older brother sat down next to Jace. Alec really was a mess today. The usually so well-composed Head of the Institute had at least two buttons of his shirt undone and his sweat-dampened hair was standing on end as if Alec had run his hands through it to keep it away from his face. 

”Still no AC in the office?” Jace asked him. Alec shot him a telling look before starting on his lunch without a word. Isabelle and Clary exchanged glances that both said the same thing:  _ yikes. _

”Anyway,” Izzy said, continuing the conversation as if it hadn’t been interrupted. ”I was thinking we throw him into the sea.”

Jace looked pensive for a second. 

”He’s a good swimmer, though,” Clary interjected.

”We just take him by surprise. Boom, problem solved,” Jace said. 

Without forewarning, Alec pushed his plate halfway across the table and sat up straight. ”Screw this,” he said. The others ceased their talking to look at Alec in confusion.

”I can’t go back in that office, I’m going to lose my mind.”

”I think you’re already there, Alec,” Izzy told him with a raised eyebrow. Her brother ignored her.

”I’ll tear my damn hair out if I have to spend the rest of the day in there.”

”What do you suggest we do instead?” Jace asked.

”Let’s go to the beach!” Clary almost shouted, suddenly in a much brighter mood. ”The Institute would be fine without us for an afternoon. You could leave Underhill in charge,” she continued in response to Alec’s skeptical look.

To Izzy’s surprise — and delight — it looked like Alec was actually considering the suggestion. 

”We could bring Magnus! And Simon! I’m sure they’d both want to come,” she added, determined to coax her brother into letting them all take the afternoon off for a trip to the beach. Alec chewed lightly on his lip. He didn’t look fully convinced. 

No less than forty minutes later, Izzy was standing on the front steps of the Institute with Clary, the guys and a packed beach bag each. 

”Is that…four bottles of sunscreen?” Izzy asked, eyeing the contents of Clary’s bag. 

”I burn easily,” Clary said, placing a huge sun hat on her head. 

Isabelle smiled. ”Of course you do.”

”Alright. Let’s go,” Magnus said with a smile as he gestured to open a portal. Isabelle slid her hand into Simon’s as the two of them stepped through it. They all emerged on a sandy beach dotted with palms rustling in the ocean breeze.

”Woah,” Simon breathed. He was staring out across the turquoise-blue waves in awe.

”Welcome to Bali,” Magnus told Simon, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder. Isabelle leaned closer to her brother and spoke to him under her breath:

”Is he always this...extra?” she asked with a glance at Magnus.

”It’s pretty amazing, right?” he answered with a little smile before walking away from Izzy to catch up to his husband. She watched the two of them strolling toward the waterline before turning to Simon, who was tugging gently at her hand. 

”Come on, I bet the water’s super nice!” he said. He was so cute with the spark of childlike wonder and excitement in his eyes that Izzy nearly melted. She couldn’t  _ not _ kiss him on the cheek. 

”Let’s go,” she told him.

Simon was right; the water was super nice. The blue waves rolled gently toward land, making Simon bob up and down like a cork. Izzy was stood in the shallows, watching him with a smile on her face. 

”Aren’t you going to swim, Iz?” Jace asked in a shout from where he sat on a towel on the sand with Clary lying across his lap.

”Get in here yourself, coward!” Isabelle shouted back. She only got a wave of dismissal from Jace and a melodic laugh from Clary in response. Isabelle had never had anything like this before — a vacation of sorts, with family and friends, sun and no demon hunting. She had to say, it was nice. She adjusted the shoulder strap on her bathing suit and waded further out into the warm water. Simon swam toward the shore to meet her. His hair was plastered to his forehead with salt water. It was going to be so curly when it dried, Isabelle thought with a fond smile. With an even fonder smile, she splashed him in the face.

”What was that for?” Simon asked, spitting ocean water. 

Izzy laughed. ”That,” she said, ”was for all the pictures you sent me when I thought I was going to die of heatstroke. Not fair.”

Simon smiled, drawing her in for a salty kiss. 

Drying off on top of a beach towel in the Bali sun was pretty damn close to being Izzy’s new happy place. Simon’s head was resting on her stomach and she was absentmindedly running her fingers through his hair. Behind them, she could hear Magnus and Alec talking softly to each other, though she couldn’t — nor did she really want to — make out what was being said. Further down the beach, Clary and Jace were playing something that looked like a lawless version of beach volleyball. Simon lifted his head from Izzy and turned to face Alec and his husband. 

”Thanks for taking us here, Magnus,” he said. The warlock smiled. ”The pleasure is mine,” he said.

”Maybe we could join you on more trips like this,” Simon said. This made Alec peer at him over the rim of his sunglasses with arched eyebrows.

”Don’t push it, daylighter,” he said.

”You know my name, Alec!” Simon exclaimed, looking crestfallen.

”Be nice, Alexander,” Magnus scolded, placing a gentle hand on the nape of Alec’s neck with an equally gentle smile. Isabelle looked away when they kissed. She felt like that was a moment she shouldn’t be witness to. 

”It would be nice though, wouldn’t it?” Simon mumbled to her, evidently also letting Magnus and Alec have their romantic moment in peace. ”A vacation like this.”

”With them?” Isabelle asked, jerking her head toward her brother and his partner.

Simon chuckled. ”Well…”

”We could look into it,” Isabelle mused with a smile in Simon’s direction. 

This was much better than a hot and humid afternoon spent in an old, dilapidated church, waiting for some demon to come out of lurking so she could go kill it. Much, much better. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading and i hope you enjoyed! <3


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